Railway truck side bearing



Oct. 6, 1964 F. E. BACHMAN ETAL 3,151,913

RAILWAY TRUCK SIDE BEARING Filed Oct. 12, 1962 3 6 vg VEN CR5.

77 QWAZ/ 1 m United States Patent 3,151,918 RAILWAY TRUCK SEDE BEARING Fred E. Bachman, Chicago, and Arthur F. Baker, Calu- This invention relates to railway car trucks and more particularly to side bearings adapted to be mounted upon a bolster adjacent the ends thereof to engage a car body against lateral rocking movements relative to the bolster.

An object of the inventionresides in the provision of a side bearing embodying means to yieldably resist harmonic roll of a car body to prevent a build-up of excessive side bearing pressure.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a side bearing embodying means to prevent truck shimmying and nosing, thereby improving the riding quality of the equipment and also prolonging the useful life of the wheels.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a side bearing embodying friction means to snub rocking movement of a car body relative to the bolster.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a side bearing in which a friction shoe is biased against outwardly diverging friction surface on a base by means of two spring elements to snub movements of a car body relative to the bolster.

Another object is to provide a side hearing which is relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, reliable in operation, and having a long service life.

The invention embodies other novel features, details of construction and arrangement of parts which are hereinafter set forth in the specification and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view illustrating a side bearing embodying features f the invention.

. FIGURE 2 is a side elevation showing the side bearing.

FIGURE 3 is a transverse section taken along the line 33 of FIGURE 2.

Referring now to the drawings for a better understanding of the invention, the side bearing is shown as comprising a base 2 having side walls 3-3:: and end walls 4 extending upwardly from a bottom 6 to define a chamber 7, the side wall 3 having diverging friction snubbing surfaces 8 merging with coplanar friction snubbing surfaces 9. Bolt flanges 11 extend outwardly from the bottom 6 for attachment to the upper side of a bolster.

A friction I shoe 12 is mounted on two compression springs 13 engaged at their lower ends against springseats 14 inclined downwardly toward the side wall 3, the shoe being formed with inclined spring seats 16 parallel with the seats 14 to engage the upper ends of the springs. The friction shoe is shown as comprising a top wall 17 and a depending friction wall 18 having inwardly converging surfaces 19 for engagement against the diverging surfaces 8 on the side wall 3. The friction wall 18 is also formed with coplanar surfaces 21 for engagement against the surfaces 9 on the side wall 3 after the surfaces 8 and 19 be come worn in service.

The shoe is provided with depending side and end flanges 22 and 23 extending downwardly into the chamber 7 to limit horizontal movements of the shoe relative to the base 2. The .top wall 17 of the shoe extends over the upper ends of the walls 3, 3a and 4 to engage and limit downward movement f the shoe when in service on a truck.

The friction wall 18 and side flange 22 are formed with apertures 24 and 25 for alignment with openings 26 and 27 in the side walls 3 and 3a to receive a bolt 28 adapted ice to prevent displacement of the shoe from the base 2, said apertures being formed to permit limited vertical movement of the shoe. A flat wear pad 29 is bonded to the upper face of the top wall 17 for engagement against a car body.

In operation, two side bearings are mounted upon a bolster adjacent the ends thereof to engage the underside of a car body. When the car body is in its normal position on a car truck, the friction shoe 12 of each side bearing is moved downwardly to the position shown in FiGURE 3 to place the springs 13 under compression.

When compressed, the springs 13 bias the shoe friction wall 18 toward the side wall 3 to engage the surfaces 19 and 21 against the surfaces 8 and 9, respectively, to snub movements of a car body relative to the bolster.

We claim:

1. In a railway car truck side bearing, a base comprising side and end walls extending upwardly from a bottom to define a chamber, a friction shoe having a top wall and a depending friction wall within said chamber, and resilient means engaged between said top wall and said bottom to bias said friction wall against one of said side walls, and side and end flanges depending from said top wall within said chamber, one of said side walls having inwardly converging friction snubbing surfaces disposed in vertical planes normal to each other, said friction wall having outwardly diverging friction surfaces engaging said snubbing surfaces, said one side wall having coplanar friction snubbing surfaces on opposite sides of said inwardly converging snubbing surfaces, said friction wall having coplanar friction surfaces engaging said coplanar snubbing surfaces.

2. A side bearing comprising a base having a bottom, side and end walls extending upwardly from said bottom to define a chamber, one of said side walls having spaced coplanar inwardly facing friction surfaces, said one side wall having inwardly converging segments between said surfaces, said inwardly converging segments having, re-

spectively, on their inner sides inwardly converging fric tion surfaces, a friction shoe having a top wall overlying said side and end walls, said shoe having a friction wall connected to the top wall and comprising outwardly diverging friction faces in said chamber seated against said converging surfaces, said friction wall having substantially coplanar friction faces spaced from each other by said diverging faces, each of said coplanar faces being aligned with and facing one of said coplanar surfaces and being slightly spaced therefromand adapted to seat thereagainst as wear occurs between said converging surfaces and said diverging faces, a pair of spring seats on said bottom sloping downwardly toward said one side wall, a pair of spring seats on said top Wall sloping downwardly toward said coplanar surfaces, a pair of compression springs, each seated at its lower end and upper end, respectively, against a seat on the bottom and a seat on the top wall facing said lastmentioned seat, and a retainer bolt extending through openings of said side walls and through an opening of the friction wall at the juncture of said segments, the last-mentioned opening being elongated vertically, the distance between the top wall and said walls of said base being less than the distance between said bolt and said friction wall at the top of said last-mentioned opening.

3. A side bearing according to claim 2, wherein said bolt comprises a head at one end thereof, and wherein said sidewall segments define a pocket receiving said head, the head having a plurality of sides, two of which are engaged with said segments, and wherein a nut is threaded on the other end of the bolt, the engagement between the head and the wall segments keeping the bolt from turning when the nut is turned.

4. A side bearing comprising a base having a bottom and spaced side and end walls partly defining a chamber,

one of the side walls having a V-shaped portion defined by segments converging inwardly into the chamber and presenting, respectively inwardly converging friction surfaces, said one wall having a pair of fiat friction surfaces spaced from each other by said converging surfaces, friction sh e means for engagement with said surfaces, a pair of spring seats on said bottom sloping downwardly toward said flat surfaces, respectively, spring seats on said shoe means sloping downwardly toward said flat surfaces, respectively, a pair of compression springs, each seated at its ends against opposed seats of the bottom and shoe means, respectively, said segments defining an external pocket in said one side wall, a bolt having a head received in said pocket and extending through complementary openings of respective side walls, said bolt being received with a vertically elongated opening of said friction shoe means to limit upward movement thereof, said shoe means compris-v ing abutment means overlying said side walls and spaced closer thereto than the distance between said bolt and the top of said last-mentioned openings for limiting downward 20 movement of the friction shoe means.

5. A side bearing according to claim 4, wherein a nut is threaded on said bolt and wherein the side wall segments and the head comprise interengaged means for preventing rotation of the bolt as the nut is rotated.

6, A railway car truck side bearing according to claim 1 in which said resilient means comprises two compression springs seated on said bottom adjacent said end walls and on opposite sides of said snubbing surfaces.

7. A railway car truck side bearing according to claim 6 in which said bottom has coplanar spring s'eats inclined downwardly toward said one side wall.

8. A railway car truck side bearing according to claim 7 in which said top wall has coplanar spring seats inclined downwardly toward said friction wall,

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. IN A RAILWAY CAR TRUCK SIDE BEARING, A BASE COMPRISING SIDE AND END WALLS EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM A BOTTOM TO DEFINE A CHAMBER, A FRICTION SHOE HAVING A TOP WALL AND A DEPENDING FRICTION WALL WITHIN SAID CHAMBER, AND RESILIENT MEANS ENGAGED BETWEEN SAID TOP WALL AND SAID BOTTOM TO BIAS SAID FRICTION WALL AGAINST ONE OF SAID SIDE WALLS, AND SIDE AND END FLANGES DEPENDING FROM SAID TOP WALL WITHIN SAID CHAMBER, ONE OF SAID SIDE WALLS HAVING INWARDLY CONVERGING FRICTION SNUBBING SURFACES DISPOSED IN VERTICAL PLANES NORMAL TO EACH OTHER, SAID FRICTION WALL HAVING OUTWARDLY DIVERGING FRICTION SURFACES ENGAGING SAID SNUBBING SURFACES, SAID ONE SIDE WALL HAVING COPLANAR FRICTION SNUBBING SURFACES ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID INWARDLY CONVERGING SNUBBING SURFACES, SAID FRICTION WALL HAVING COPLANAR FRICTION SURFACES ENGAGING SAID COPLANAR SNUBBING SURFACES. 